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Magazine Collection

Magazines dedicated to South African railway matters date back to 1905. The first magazine was published by the Natal Government Railways in October 1905, a monthly publication that ran for 18 months until March 1907. During this period, the Central South Railways and the Cape Government Railways joined forces to start a rival monthly magazine in September 1906, called the South African Railway Magazine. These two publications ran concurrently for seven months before the NGR magazine was merged into the South African Railway Magazine to become one authoritative voice on railway issues that continued publication until 1967. The South African Railway Magazine, or SARM as railway enthusiasts know it, is a great resource for researchers and enthusiasts.

Scanning started with the earliest issues and the magazines are published in batches covering five years each. All the material up to December 1920 is now available. Some cover pages and frontispieces could not be found – if some individuals might have the missing pages available, please use the feedback form to let me know and allow us to work out a way to make the collection as complete as possible.